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Born On This Day: Rick Springfield

Meeting Rick Springfield on July 26, 2014.

Born Aug. 23, 1949 near Sydney, Australia, Richard Springthorpe–who later took on the stage name of Rick Springfield–started in the music business as a vocalist and lead guitarist in the band Zoot from 1969 to 1971. He began a solo career soon after and moved to the U.S. in mid-1972.

From Sept. 1972 to Sept. 1973, Springfield appeared as himself in the Saturday morning cartoon series Mission: Magic! on ABC-TV. He went on to appear in countless other films and television shows, including Wonder Woman and High Tide. From 1981 to 1983, he portrayed Dr. Noah Drake in the ABC-TV soap opera General Hospital; he has made numerous appearances on General Hospital since he first left the show. In 1984, he played a Pop idol in the film Hard to Hold and recently had a recurring role in the HBO series True Detective.

Springfield rocketed to success in 1981 with the song “Jessie’s Girl,” which was a worldwide hit and reached number 1 for two weeks on the U.S. Hot 100 chart, as well as on the Australian Kent Music report singles chart. In the same year, he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

In 2010, Springfield became an author when he wrote his autobiography Late, Late At Night: a Memoir. In 2014, he published the book Magnificent Vibration: A Novel, and on May 9, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2015, he portrayed Greg, lead guitarist and Meryl Streep’s love interest in the Jonathan Demme film Ricki and The Flash.